Methods and apparatus to generate threshold values for state detection

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus to generate threshold values for state detection are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a threshold generator to maintain, in memory, a collection of audio data elements representative of sound levels present in an environment at respective times when ON-indications are detected for a monitored media device. The threshold generator to replace, in response to detection of a next ON-indication in the environment, one of the audio data elements in the memory with a new audio data element representing a sound level in the environment at a time of the next ON-indication. A selector to select, for a value of a threshold condition of a state detection analysis, one of the audio data elements in the memory corresponding to a lowest sound level, at least one of the threshold generator or the selector implemented by at least one of a processor or hardware.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent arises from a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 14/595,969, filed Jan. 13, 2015, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,332,305. U.S.patent application Ser. No. 14/595,969 is hereby incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

This disclosure relates generally to audience measurement and, moreparticularly, to methods and apparatus to generate threshold values forstate detection.

BACKGROUND

Audience measurement of media (e.g., content and/or advertisements, suchas broadcast television and/or radio programs and/or advertisements,streaming media, stored audio and/or video programs and/oradvertisements played back from a memory such as a digital videorecorder or a digital video disc, audio and/or video programs and/oradvertisements played via the Internet, video games, etc.) ofteninvolves collection of media identifying data (e.g., signature(s),fingerprint(s), code(s), channel information, time of presentationinformation, etc.) and people data (e.g., user identifiers, demographicdata associated with audience members, etc.). The media identifying dataand the people data can be combined to generate, for example, mediaexposure data indicative of amount(s) and/or type(s) of people that wereexposed to specific piece(s) of media.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example environment in which an examplemedia monitoring system including an example meter constructed inaccordance with teachings of this disclosure is deployed.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example implementation of the examplemeter of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example implementation of the examplestate detector of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example implementation of the examplethreshold generator of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart representative of example machine readableinstructions that may be executed to implement the example meter ofFIGS. 1 and/or 2.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart representative of example machine readableinstructions that may be executed to implement the example statedetector of FIGS. 2 and/or 3.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart representative of example machine readableinstructions that may be executed to implement the example thresholdgenerator of FIGS. 3 and/or 4.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an example consumer electronics deviceimplementing the example meter of FIGS. 1 and/or 2 by executing theexample machine readable instructions of FIG. 5, implemented the examplestate detector of FIGS. 2 and/or 3 by executing the example machinereadable instructions of FIG. 6, and/or implementing the examplethreshold generator of FIGS. 3 and/or 4 by executing the example machinereadable instructions of FIG. 7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Audience measurement systems collect data associated with media exposureenvironments such as, for example, a television room, a family room, aliving room, a bar, a restaurant, an office space, a cafeteria, etc. Forexample, an audience measurement system may collect media identifyinginformation from media presentations being played in the mediaenvironment. Additionally or alternatively, the audience measurementsystem may collect people data by obtaining a series of images of theenvironment and analyzing the images to determine, for example, anidentity of one or more persons present in the media exposureenvironment, an amount of people present in the media exposureenvironment during one or more times and/or periods of time, an amountof attention being paid to a media presentation by one or more persons,a gesture made by a person in the media exposure environment, etc.

In some examples, the people data is correlated with the mediaidentifying information corresponding to detected media to provideexposure data for that media. For example, an audience measuremententity (e.g., The Nielsen Company (US), LLC) can calculate ratings for afirst piece of media (e.g., a television program) by correlating datacollected from a plurality of panelist sites with the demographics ofthe panelist. For example, in each panelist site wherein the first pieceof media is detected in the monitored environment at a first time, mediaidentifying information for the first piece of media is correlated withpresence information detected in the environment at the first time. Theresults from multiple panelist sites are combined and/or analyzed toprovide ratings representative of exposure of an audience (e.g., anentire population, a demographic segment, etc.) to the media.

In addition to and/or as part of collecting media identifying and/orpeople data, some monitoring systems collect state informationassociated with one or more media presentation devices (e.g., atelevision, a computer, a tablet, a smart phone, etc.). For example,monitoring systems determine whether a television in a living room is inan ON state (e.g., powered on and/or presenting image and/or audio data)or in an OFF state (e.g., powered off and/or not presenting image and/oraudio data). A media device in an ON state is referred to herein asbeing ON, and a media device in an OFF state is referred to herein asbeing OFF. To determine whether a media device is ON or OFF, somemonitoring systems utilize audio information collected from anenvironment in which the media device is deployed. For example, if audioinformation meeting a threshold condition (e.g., a minimum volume levelor a maximum automatic gain control (AGC) level) is collected from theenvironment, the media device is determined to be ON or likely to be ON.If the audio information does not meet the threshold condition, themedia device is determined to be OFF or likely to be OFF.

Examples disclosed herein recognize challenges in such an approach,especially with respect to assigning a value to the threshold condition.For example, disclosed examples recognize that known monitoring systemsthat assign a fixed, predetermined value to the threshold condition havedisadvantages and/or drawbacks due to the varying circumstances and/orfactors involved in the collection of the audio information. Put anotherway, examples disclosed herein realize that accurate status detection(e.g., ON/OFF detection) relies on having a suitable value for thethreshold condition and that the suitability of such a value isdependent on the specific circumstances of individual implementations.That is, while a particular value for the threshold condition may leadto accurate status detections in a first implementation (e.g., in afirst environment including a first media device and a first audiosensor), that particular threshold condition value may not lead toaccurate (or at least not as accurate) status detections in a second,different implementation (e.g., a second environment including a secondmedia device and/or a second audio sensor). For example, different usershave different preferences and/or tendencies when using media devices.That is, while a first user and/or first household tends to watchtelevision at a first volume, a second user and/or second householdtends to watch a television at a second volume different than the firstvolume.

Additionally or alternatively, different acoustic characteristics ofdifferent environments (e.g., living rooms) may cause a same audiosensor detecting a same sound to register different volumes in thedifferent environments. Additionally or alternatively, collection of theaudio signal and the resulting audio parameter values may depend on alocation (e.g., a distance away from the media device being monitored)in the environment at which the audio sensor is placed. Additionally oralternatively, audio sensor performance may change (e.g., degrade,become damaged, etc.) over time, thereby causing different volumedetections for a same audio detection over time. Additionally oralternatively, circumstances of deployment may change over time. Forexample, a makeup of a household may change, thereby changing thetendencies of viewing preferences (e.g., volume levels of televisionwatching). Another example change of circumstances includes furniture ofa room being moved or changed, thereby changing the acousticcharacteristics of the room. For these and/or additional or alternativereasons, collected audio information is dependent on the currentcircumstances of the deployment of the corresponding audio sensor.

To avoid disadvantages and/or drawbacks of known monitoring systems thatassign a fixed, predetermined value to a threshold condition despite thevarying circumstances (e.g., across deployment instances and/or overtime), examples disclosed herein generate dynamic, customized values fora threshold condition based on specific circumstances of specificdeployments or implementations during specific time periods. Asdescribed in detail below, example methods and apparatus disclosedherein generate a collection of audio values that are known tocorrespond to a particular media device being ON in a particularenvironment. The collection of audio values known to correspond to themedia device being ON is referred to herein as an ON-indicative valuecollection.

To generate the ON-indicative value collection, disclosed examples takeadvantage of a likelihood that the media device is ON when, for example,a code (e.g., a media identifying code inserted into media) is detectedin the environment. Additionally or alternatively, disclosed examplestake advantage of a likelihood that the media device is ON when, forexample, a signature (e.g., a representation of a characteristic of thesignal carrying or representing one or more aspects of the media) isdetected in the environment. While examples disclosed below utilize acode detection as an indication of the media device being ON, any othersuitable ON-indication can be used. When such an ON-indication isdetected in the environment, examples disclosed herein capture orotherwise obtain sound level indicative audio data from the environmentcorresponding to a time of the ON-indication. In some examples, thesound level indicative audio data obtained from the environment is avolume level.

Alternatively, in some examples, the sound level indicative audio dataobtained from the environment is an audio gain level being used byautomatic gain control (AGC) functionality employed by audio processingcomponent(s). In some examples, the AGC functionality from which theaudio gain level is obtained is employed in connection with a mediadetector to regulate (e.g., amplify or attenuate) audio signals ofvarying strengths (e.g., amplitudes) to reduce fluctuation of the audiosignals. As disclosed in detail below, a value of the obtained audiogain level is an indication of the sound level in the environment. Forexample, first audio gain level of a first value is indicative of afirst sound level, while a second audio gain level of a second valuegreater than the first value is indicative of a second sound levelquieter than the first sound level (e.g., because a greater amount ofamplification is applied to the quieter audio signal by the AGCfunctionality). In some examples, audio gain level information is usedto populate the ON-indicative value collection when access to dataassociated with AGC functionality is readily available, while a volumelevel is used to populate the ON-indicative value collection when accessto the AGC data is not readily available. Additional or alternativetypes of audio data can be used by examples disclosed herein asON-indicative information.

Examples disclosed herein store the obtained audio data of theON-indicative value collection in any suitable data structure. In someexamples disclosed herein, the ON-indicative value collection isimplemented by a circular buffer having a B number of elements. As acircular buffer, the example ON-indicative value collection reflects arecent (e.g., a most recent twenty-four hour period, a most recent week,a most recent month, etc.) set of values. As such, the ON-indicativevalue collection generated and maintained by examples disclosed hereinincludes a plurality of audio values each corresponding to a recentindication (e.g., volume level and/or AGC level) of the media devicebeing ON.

Examples disclosed herein utilize the ON-indicative value collection toidentify a value for the threshold condition that is desirable (e.g.,reflective of actual conditions and, thus, likely to produce highlyaccurate results) for a recent period of time (e.g., a most recenttwenty-four hours, a most recent week, a most recent month, etc.) andfor an actual deployment scenario (e.g., for a specific media device,for a specific audio sensor, for a specific environment having specificacoustic characteristics, etc.). Examples disclosed herein identify anentry in the ON-indicative value collection corresponding to a quietestaudio level known to correspond to the media device being on. Examplesdisclosed herein assign the identified element of the ON-indicativevalue collection to the threshold condition, which is used to determinewhether the media device is ON or OFF. In particular, the thresholdcondition is used to determine whether the current audio conditions ofthe monitored environment meet or exceed a minimum audio level, therebyindicating that the monitored media device(s) is ON.

In some examples, the process of identifying the element of theON-indicative value collection corresponding to the quietest sound leveland assigning the identified audio value to the threshold condition isperformed periodically and/or aperiodically. Additionally oralternatively, the threshold condition assignment process may betriggered by an event such as, for example, a particular number of codedetections and/or new entries in the ON-indicative value collection.

Accordingly, examples disclosed herein enable generation and use ofcustomized, up-to-date threshold condition values in ON/OFF detectioncomponents and/or techniques. Notably, examples disclosed herein enablegeneration and use of the customized, up-to-date threshold conditionvalues without requiring an entity implementing the ON/OFF componentsand/or techniques to customize each deployment. That is, entitiesimplementing monitoring systems can utilize examples disclosed herein tocustomize ON/OFF components and/or techniques for specific, currentcircumstances without having to obtain knowledge of the specificcircumstances and without having to incur the significant costs involvedin such a task. Instead, examples disclosed herein automatically providethreshold values learned by the system based on specific circumstances.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example media exposure environment 100 including amedia presentation device 102, an example meter 104 constructed inaccordance with teachings of this disclosure, and an audience 106including a first person 108 and a second person 110. In the illustratedexample of FIG. 1, the media presentation device 102 is a television andthe media exposure environment 100 is a room of a household (e.g., aroom in a home of a panelist such as the home of a “Nielsen family”)that has been statistically selected to develop television ratings datafor population(s)/demographic(s) of interest. In the illustrated exampleof FIG. 1, one or more persons of the household have registered with anaudience measurement entity (e.g., by agreeing to be a panelist) andhave provided demographic information to the audience measurement entityas part of a registration process to enable association of demographicswith viewing activities (e.g., media exposure). The example meter 104 ofFIG. 1 can be implemented in additional and/or alternative types ofenvironments such as, for example, a room in a non-statisticallyselected household, a theater, a restaurant, a tavern, a retaillocation, an arena, etc. In some examples, the example meter 104 of FIG.1 is implemented, at least in part, in connection with additional and/oralternative types of media presentation devices such as, for example, aradio, a computer, a tablet (e.g., an iPad®), a cellular telephone,and/or any other communication device able to present media to one ormore individuals.

In some examples, the meter 104 of FIG. 1 is implemented by softwareinstalled in consumer electronics associated with the environment 100such as, for example, a set-top box, a BluRay disc player, and/or avideo game system (e.g., an XBOX® having a Kinect® sensor). In suchinstances, the example meter 104 of FIG. 1 is, for example, downloadedfrom a network, installed at the time of manufacture, installed via aport (e.g., a universal serial bus (USB) port receiving a jump driveprovided by the audience measurement company), installed from a storagedisc (e.g., an optical disc such as a BluRay disc, Digital VersatileDisc (DVD) or CD (compact Disk)), and/or any other suitable manner ofinstallation. Executing the meter 104 on equipment associated with(e.g., owned by) one or more panelists is advantageous in that costs ofinstallation are reduced by relieving the audience measurement entity ofthe need to supply hardware to the monitored household. In someexamples, the meter 104 is integrated with the consumer electronics(e.g., by the manufacturer prior to sale to the consumer). That is, insome examples, the consumer electronics into which the meter 104 isintegrated may be repurposed (and/or data collected by the consumerelectronics may be repurposed) for audience measurement. For example,the meter 104 of FIG. 1 may utilize one or more sensors of a video gamesystem to collect, for example, image data from the environment 100.

In some examples, rather than installing the meter 104 on the consumerelectronics of the panelist(s), the example meter 104 of FIG. 1 is adedicated audience measurement unit provided by the audience measuremententity. In such examples, the meter 104 may include its own housing,hardware (e.g., processor, logic circuit, etc.), memory and software toperform the desired audience measurement functions. In some examples,the dedicated meter 104 is adapted to communicate with (e.g., via awired and/or wireless connection), for example, information capturingdevices implemented in the environment 100 such as, for example, a videogame system having image capturing equipment and/or audio capturingequipment. In some examples, the communications are effected via theconsumer electronics of the panelist (e.g., via a video game console).In some examples, the meter 104 includes information collectiondevice(s), such as an image capturing device and/or audio sensors and,thus, no direct interaction (outside of monitoring outputs) with theconsumer electronics owned by the panelist is involved.

The example meter 104 of FIG. 1 reports collected information (e.g.,data representative of media being presented in the environment 100,data representative of the audience 106, and/or data representative of astate of the media presentation device 102) to, for example, a datacollection facility 110. In the illustrated example of FIG. 1, the datacollection facility 110 receives information from other panelist sites112,114 in addition to the example media exposure environment 100. Inthe example of FIG. 1, the data collection facility 110 is associatedwith the audience measurement entity that deployed the meter 104 in theenvironment 100. The audience measurement entity associated with theexample data collection facility 110 of FIG. 1 utilizes the informationcollected from the example media exposure environment 100 and/or thepanelist sites 112, 114 to generate exposure information. Theinformation from many panelist locations may be collected and analyzedto generate ratings (e.g., in real-time or non-real-time) representativeof media exposure by one or more populations of interest.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example implementation of the meter 104 of FIG. 1.The example meter 104 of FIG. 2 includes a state detector 200 to detecta state (e.g., ON state or OFF state) of the media presentation device102 of FIG. 1 based on audio data collected by an example audio sensor202. In some examples, the audio sensor 202 is implemented within ahousing of the meter 104 (and/or a housing of a consumer electronicscomponent, such as a video game console, with which the meter 104 isintegrated). Additionally or alternatively, the example audio sensor 202is a physically separate component in communication with the examplemeter 104. As disclosed in detail below in connection with FIGS. 2-7,the example state detector 200 enables detection of a state of the mediapresentation device 102 via audio information collected by the exampleaudio sensor 202.

Based on an analysis of the audio information collected by the audiosensor 202, the example state detector 200 of FIG. 2 outputs stateindication representative of a current state (e.g., ON or OFF) of themedia presentation device 102. For example, the state detector 200 ofFIG. 2 outputs a first state indication (e.g., true) to indicate thatthe monitored media presentation device 102 is ON state or a secondstate indication (e.g., false) to indicate that the monitored mediapresentation device 102 is OFF. In the illustrated example of FIG. 2,the state detector 200 conveys the state indication to a time stamper204. The example time stamper 204 of FIG. 2 includes a clock and acalendar. The example time stamper 204 associates a time period (e.g.,1:00 a.m. Central Standard Time (CST) to 1:01 a.m. CST) and date (e.g.,Jan. 1, 2014) with each state indication by, for example, appending theperiod of time and date information to an end of the state indication.In some examples, the time stamper 204 applies a single time and daterather than a period of time.

A data package (e.g., the state indication and the time stamp) is storedin memory 206 of the example meter 104. The example memory 206 of FIG. 2may include a volatile memory (e.g., Synchronous Dynamic Random AccessMemory (SDRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), RAMBUS DynamicRandom Access Memory (RDRAM, etc.) and/or a non-volatile memory (e.g.,flash memory). The example memory 206 of FIG. 2 may also include one ormore mass storage devices such as, for example, hard drive disk(s),compact disk drive(s), digital versatile disk drive(s), etc. When theexample meter 104 is integrated into, for example, a video game systemor a set-top box, the meter 104 may utilize memory of the video gamesystem or the set-top box to store information such as, for example, thestatus identifiers generated by the example state detector 200 and timestamped by the example time stamper 204.

The example time stamper 204 of FIG. 2 also receives data from anexample media detector 208 of the example meter 104 of FIG. 2. Theexample media detector 208 of FIG. 2 detects presentation(s) of media inthe media exposure environment 100 of FIG. 1 and/or collectsidentification information associated with the detected presentation(s).For example, the media detector 208 of FIG. 2, which may be in wiredand/or wireless communication with the media presentation device 102(e.g., a television), a video game system deployed in the environment100, a set-top box associated with the media presentation device 102,and/or any other component of FIG. 1, can identify a presentation timeand/or a source of a presentation. The presentation time and the sourceidentification data (e.g., channel identification data) may be utilizedto identify the program by, for example, cross-referencing a programguide configured, for example, as a look up table. In such instances,the source identification data is, for example, the identity of achannel (e.g., obtained by monitoring a tuner of a set-top box or adigital selection made via a remote control signal) currently beingpresented on the media presentation device 102 of FIG. 1.

Additionally or alternatively, the example media detector 208 of FIG. 2can identify the presentation by detecting codes and/or watermarksembedded with or otherwise conveyed (e.g., broadcast) with media beingpresented via a set-top box and/or the media presentation device 102. Asused herein, a code is an identifier that is transmitted with and/orotherwise associated with media for the purpose of identifying (e.g., anaudience measurement code) the media and/or a source of the media and/orfor the purpose of tuning to (e.g., a packet identifier (PID) headerand/or other data used to tune or select packets in a multiplexed streamof packets) the corresponding media. Codes may be carried in the audio,in the video, in metadata, in a vertical blanking interval, in a programguide, in content data, or in any other portion of the media and/or thesignal carrying the media. In the illustrated example of FIG. 2, themedia detector 208 extracts the code(s) from the media. In someexamples, the media detector 208 may collect samples of the media andexport the samples to a remote site (e.g., the data collection facility110 of FIG. 1) for detection of the code(s).

In the illustrated example of FIG. 2, the media detector 208 provides anotification that a code was detected to the example state detector 200.Thus, when the media detector 208 of FIG. 2 determines that a code ispresent in the environment 100, the example state detector 200 receivesthe notification from the media detector 208. The notification receivedby the example state detector 200 indicative of a code being present inthe environment 100 is referred to herein as a code-detectednotification. As disclosed in detail below in connection with FIGS. 3-7,the example state detector 200 utilizes the code-detected notificationsto identify a suitable value for a threshold condition used to determinethe state of the media presentation device 102. As the code-detectednotification is used by the example state detector 200 as an indicationof the media presentation device 102 being ON, the code-detectednotification is referred to as an ON-indication. Additional oralternative types of detections indicative of the media presentationdevice 102 being ON are referred to as ON-indications.

Additionally or alternatively, the example media detector 208 of FIG. 2can collect a signature to identify the media. As used herein, asignature is a representation of a characteristic of the signal carryingor representing one or more aspects of the media (e.g., a frequencyspectrum of an audio signal). Signatures may be thought of asfingerprints of the media. Collected signature(s) can be comparedagainst a collection of reference signatures of known media (e.g.,content and/or advertisements) to identify tuned media. In someexamples, the signature(s) are generated by the media detector 208.Additionally or alternatively, the example media detector 208 of FIG. 2collects samples of the media and exports the samples to a remote sitefor generation of the signature(s). While the below examples disclosedin connection with FIGS. 3-7 utilize detections of codes asON-indications (e.g., indicators of the media presentation device 102being ON), the example state detector 200 may utilize a signaturedetection as an ON-indication.

The example media detector 208 of FIG. 2 includes an AGC component 210to implement AGC functionality. Automatic gain control (AGC)functionality regulates audio signals of varying strengths (e.g.,amplitudes) to reduce fluctuation of the audio signals provided by theexample audio sensor 202. For example, when a strength of the receivedaudio signal is weak (e.g., below a particular amplitude), the AGCcomponent 210 applies a particular audio gain level to the input audiosignal to provide a stronger (e.g., greater amplitude) output signal.The particular audio gain level applied by the AGC component 210 isproportional to the weakness of the audio signal. For example, the AGCcomponent 210 of FIG. 2 utilizes a scale or range of audio gain levelsfrom which a suitable audio gain level is selected for application tothe audio information collected by the audio sensor 202. In theillustrated example, higher audio gain levels of the scale correspond toquiet audio information being present in the environment 100, whilelower audio gain levels of the scale correspond to loud audioinformation being present in the environment 100. For example, whenfirst audio information having a first volume is collected by theexample audio sensor 202, the AGC component 210 applies a first audiogain level to the audio information. When a second audio informationhaving a second volume less than the first volume is collected by theexample audio sensor 202, the AGC component 210 applies a second audiogain level greater than the first audio gain level to the audioinformation. In the illustrated example, the scale of audio gain levelsis zero (0) to one hundred (100), with one-hundred (100) correspondingto a quietest sound and zero (0) corresponding to a loudest sound. Assuch, a point in the scale at which a current audio gain level falls isindicative of a current sound level in the environment 100.

In the illustrated example of FIG. 2, the media detector 208 provides(e.g., in response to a request) a current audio gain level associatedwith the AGC component 210 to the example state detector 200. Thus, theexample state detector 200 of FIG. 2 receives information from the AGCcomponent 210 indicative of a current sound level present in theenvironment 100. As disclosed in detail below in connection with FIGS.3-7, the example state detector 200 utilizes the received audio gainlevels to generate an ON-indicative value collection that forms a basisfor assigning a value to a threshold condition of an ON/OFF detectionprocess. Additionally, as disclosed in detail below in connection withFIGS. 3-7, the example state detector 200 utilizes the received audiogain levels to identity a current state of, for example, the mediapresentation device 102 via a comparison of the current audio gain levelto the threshold condition.

In the example of FIG. 2, the media detector 208 conveys the mediaidentifying information (e.g., a code) to the example time stamper 204,which time stamps the received information. In the illustrated exampleof FIG. 2, the time stamper 204 appends a time stamp to the receivedmedia identifying information to generate a data package including themedia identifying information and a time indicative of when the mediadetector 208 collected the media identifying information from theenvironment 100.

To convey data to the example data collection facility 110, the examplemeter 104 of FIG. 2 includes a reporter 212. The example reporter 212 ofFIG. 2 utilizes a network (e.g., a local-area network, a wide-areanetwork, a metropolitan-area network, the Internet, a digital subscriberline (DSL) network, a cable network, a power line network, a wirelesscommunication network, a wireless mobile phone network, a Wi-Fi network,etc.) to communicate with the data collection facility 110 and/or otherdevices. In some examples, the reporter 212 utilizes communicationcapabilities (e.g., network connections) of a video game system and/or aset-top box to communicate with, for example, the data collectionfacility 110.

While an example manner of implementing the meter 104 of FIG. 1 isillustrated in FIG. 2, one or more of the elements, processes and/ordevices illustrated in FIG. 2 may be combined, divided, re-arranged,omitted, eliminated and/or implemented in any other way. Further, theexample state detector 200, the example time stamper 204, the examplemedia detector 208, the example AGC component 210, the example reporter212 and/or, more generally, the example meter 104 of FIG. 2 may beimplemented by hardware, software, firmware and/or any combination ofhardware, software and/or firmware. Thus, for example, any of theexample state detector 200, the example time stamper 204, the examplemedia detector 208, the example AGC component 210, the example reporter212 and/or, more generally, the example meter 104 of FIG. 2 could beimplemented by one or more analog or digital circuit(s), logic circuits,programmable processor(s), application specific integrated circuit(s)(ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)) and/or fieldprogrammable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)). When reading any of theapparatus or system claims of this patent to cover a purely softwareand/or firmware implementation, at least one of the example statedetector 200, the example time stamper 204, the example media detector208, the example AGC component 210, the example reporter 212 and/or,more generally, the example meter 104 of FIG. 2 is/are hereby expresslydefined to include a tangible computer readable storage device orstorage disk such as a memory, a digital versatile disk (DVD), a compactdisk (CD), a Blu-ray disk, etc. storing the software and/or firmware.Further still, the example meter 104 of FIG. 1 may include one or moreelements, processes and/or devices in addition to, or instead of, thoseillustrated in FIG. 2, and/or may include more than one of any or all ofthe illustrated elements, processes and devices.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example implementation of the example statedetector 200 of FIG. 2. The example state detector 200 of FIG. 3includes a state identifier 300, a code notification receiver 302, athreshold generator 304, a comparator 306, and an audio data obtainer308. The example state identifier 300 of FIG. 3 generates stateindications representative of a state (e.g., ON or OFF) of, for example,the media presentation device 102 of FIG. 1. The example stateidentifier 300 of FIG. 3 generates the state indications based audioinformation collected by the example audio sensor 202 of FIG. 2. Theexample state identifier 300 of FIG. 3 determines that the mediapresentation device 102 is ON when (1) a code is detected in theenvironment 100 or (2) current audio data collected from the environment100 meets a threshold condition. From a different perspective, theexample state identifier 300 of FIG. 3 determines that the mediapresentation device 102 is OFF when (1) a code is not detected in theenvironment 100 and (2) the current audio data collected from theenvironment 100 does not meet the threshold condition. Thus, at anygiven time, the example state identifier 300 of FIG. 3 generates a stateindication and conveys the same to the example time stamper 204 of FIG.2 such that the detected state of the media presentation device 102 atthe given time can be recorded in the example memory 206 of FIG. 2.

The example code notification receiver 302 of FIG. 3 receives thecode-detected notifications generated by the example media detector 208of FIG. 2. As described above, the code-detected notifications receivedby the code notification receiver 302 of FIG. 3 indicate that a code(e.g., media identifying data inserted into a media presentationgenerated by the example media presentation device 102 of FIG. 1) wasdetected in the environment 100. In the illustrated example of FIG. 3,the code notification receiver 302 provides the code-detectednotifications to the state identifier 300. When the example stateidentifier 300 of FIG. 3 receives a code-detected notification from theexample code notification receiver 302 of FIG. 3 (and/or from adifferent source of code-indicative information), the example stateidentifier 300 generates a state indication corresponding to the mediapresentation device 102 being ON. That is, when the code notificationreceiver 302 indicates that a code is present in the environment 100,the example state identifier 300 of FIG. 3 determines that the mediapresentation device 102 is ON regardless of whether the current audiolevel in the environment 100 meets the threshold condition. The examplestate identifier 300 of FIG. 3 does so because the presence of the codein the environment 100 is highly indicative of the media presentationdevice 102 being ON.

When the code notification receiver 302 indicates that a code is notpresent in the environment 100, the example state identifier 300 of FIG.3 bases the ON/OFF determination on whether the audio data collectedfrom the environment 100 meets a threshold condition, as evaluated bythe example threshold generator 304, the comparator 306, and the audiodata obtainer 308. That is, while a code may not be present in theenvironment 100, the media presentation device 102 may be ON (e.g.,presenting media not embedded with a code) or may be OFF (e.g., notpresented media). As described below, when no code is present in theenvironment 100 at a particular time, the example comparator 306 of FIG.3 obtains a current (e.g., corresponding to the particular time at whichno code is present) value of the threshold condition from the examplethreshold generator 304 of FIG. 3 and compares the current value of thethreshold condition to current (e.g., corresponding to the particulartime at which no code is present) audio data obtained from theenvironment 100 by the example audio data obtainer 308 of FIG. 3.

To provide the current value of the threshold condition 304, the examplethreshold generator 304 utilizes indications (e.g., code-detectednotifications) of the media presentation device 102 being ON and audiodata collected from the environment 100 at corresponding times. In theillustrated example of FIG. 3, the code notification receiver 302 ofFIG. 3 provides the code-detected notifications to the example thresholdgenerator 304 as indications that the media presentation device 102 iscurrently ON. In response, the example threshold generator 304 of FIG. 3records the audio data of the environment 100 at a time corresponding tothe code detection.

As disclosed in detail below in connection with FIG. 4, the examplethreshold generator 304 utilizes the code-detected notification and theaudio data collected from the environment 100 to assign the value to thethreshold condition used by the example comparator 306 to determinewhether the current audio data is indicative of the media presentationdevice 102 being ON or OFF. The example threshold generator 304 of FIG.3 generates a value for any suitable type of audio characteristic and/ormeasurement such as, for example, an audio gain level being used by theexample AGC component 210 of FIG. 2.

The example threshold generator 304 of FIG. 3 provides the currentlyassigned value of the threshold condition to the example comparator 306of FIG. 3. The example comparator 306 of FIG. 3 compares the currentvalue of the threshold condition to current audio data obtained by theexample audio data obtainer 308 of FIG. 3. The current audio dataobtained by the example audio data obtainer 308 of FIG. 3 corresponds tothe audio information currently being sensed or collected by the exampleaudio sensor 202 of FIG. 2 from the environment 100. That is, thecurrent audio data obtained by the example audio data obtainer 308 ofFIG. 3 is indicative of current audio conditions present in theenvironment 100. The example audio data obtainer 308 of FIG. 3 obtains(e.g., by collecting or retrieving) and/or generates (e.g., byprocessing obtained data) the type of audio characteristic and/ormeasurement being used by the example threshold generator 304 for thethreshold condition. For example, the audio data obtainer 308 of FIG. 3obtains an audio gain level being used by the AGC component 210 of themedia detector 208 of FIG. 2. The example audio data obtainer 308 ofFIG. 3 may obtain any additional or alternative type of audiocharacteristic and/or measurement corresponding to the audiocharacteristic and/or measurement being used for the thresholdcondition.

In the illustrated example of FIG. 3, when the current audio conditionspresent in the environment 100 meet the threshold condition, the examplecomparator 306 conveys data to the state identifier 300 indicating thatthe audio conditions currently present in the environment 100 signifythat the media presentation device 102 is likely ON. In the illustratedexample of FIG. 3, when the current audio conditions present in theenvironment 100 do not meet the threshold condition, the examplecomparator 306 conveys data to the state identifier 300 indicating thatthe audio conditions currently present in the environment 100 signifythat the media presentation device 102 is likely OFF. The example stateidentifier 300 of FIG. 3 receives the state-indicative data from thecomparator 306 and generates a state indication according to thereceived information.

While an example manner of implementing the state detector 200 of FIG. 2is illustrated in FIG. 3, one or more of the elements, processes and/ordevices illustrated in FIG. 3 may be combined, divided, re-arranged,omitted, eliminated and/or implemented in any other way. Further, theexample state identifier 300, the example code notification receiver302, the example threshold generator 304, the example comparator 306,the example audio data obtainer 308 and/or, more generally, the examplestate detector 200 of FIG. 3 may be implemented by hardware, software,firmware and/or any combination of hardware, software and/or firmware.Thus, for example, any of the example state identifier 300, the examplecode notification receiver 302, the example threshold generator 304, theexample comparator 306, the example audio data obtainer 308 and/or, moregenerally, the example state detector 200 of FIG. 3 could be implementedby one or more analog or digital circuit(s), logic circuits,programmable processor(s), application specific integrated circuit(s)(ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)) and/or fieldprogrammable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)). When reading any of theapparatus or system claims of this patent to cover a purely softwareand/or firmware implementation, at least one of the example stateidentifier 300, the example code notification receiver 302, the examplethreshold generator 304, the example comparator 306, the example audiodata obtainer 308 and/or, more generally, the example state detector 200of FIG. 3 is/are hereby expressly defined to include a tangible computerreadable storage device or storage disk such as a memory, a digitalversatile disk (DVD), a compact disk (CD), a Blu-ray disk, etc. storingthe software and/or firmware. Further still, the example state detector200 of FIG. 2 may include one or more elements, processes and/or devicesin addition to, or instead of, those illustrated in FIG. 3, and/or mayinclude more than one of any or all of the illustrated elements,processes and devices.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example implementation of the thresholdgenerator 304 of FIG. 3. The example threshold generator 304 of FIG. 4utilizes the code-detected notifications described above and audio datapresent in the environment 100 at the times corresponding to thecode-detected notifications to generate a value for the thresholdcondition used by the example comparator 306 of FIG. 3 to determinewhether the media presentation device 102 is ON or OFF. The examplethreshold generator 304 of FIG. 4 utilizes any suitable type of audiocharacteristic and/or measurement of sound level for the value of thethreshold condition. In the illustrated example of FIG. 4, for the valueof the threshold condition, the threshold generator 304 utilizes theaudio gain level being applied to the currently collected (e.g., by theaudio sensor 202 of FIG. 2) audio information by the AGC component 210.As described above, the audio gain levels used by the AGC component 210are indicative of a sound level in the environment 100. Alternatively,the example threshold generator 304 of FIG. 4 may utilize volume levelsand/or any other suitable characteristic or measurement.

The example threshold generator 304 of FIG. 4 includes an audio codecounter 400 that receives code-detected notifications from the examplecode notification receiver 302 of FIG. 3. As described above, thecode-detected notifications indicate that a code is detected in theenvironment 100 and, thus, the media presentation device 102 is likelyON and outputting audio information. In the illustrated example of FIG.4, the audio code counter 400 implements a code count that isincremented each time a code-detected notification is received. Theexample audio code counter 400 of FIG. 4 triggers capture of a currentaudio gain level (or alternative type of audio information) when thecode count reaches a particular number (N). Further, when the code countreaches N, the example audio code counter 400 of FIG. 4 resets the codecount. Thus, for every Nth code-detected notification received by theexample threshold generator 304 of FIG. 4, the example audio codecounter 400 of FIG. 4 triggers capture of the audio gain levelcorresponding to the time at which the Nth code-detected notification isreceived. In the illustrated example, N is shown to be twenty (20).However, any suitable value for N is possible. The value of N is chosento be large enough to maximize an amount of time while not being solarge as to be unrepresentative of current sound levels.

The example threshold generator 304 of FIG. 4 includes an audio dataobtainer 402 to obtain the audio data used to generate the value of thethreshold condition. In the illustrated example of FIG. 4, the audiodata obtainer 402 obtains the audio gain level corresponding to a timeat which the audio code counter 400 triggers the audio data obtainer 402to obtain the audio data. For example, the audio data obtainer 402 ofFIG. 4 may obtain an audio gain level of ninety (90) when the mediapresentation device 102 is outputting audio information at a firstvolume, and the audio data obtainer 402 of FIG. 4 may obtain an audiogain level of forty (40) when the media presentation device 102 isoutputting audio information at a second volume louder than the firstvolume.

For example implementation(s) in which the audio data obtainer 402utilizes the audio gain levels as sound level indications, the exampleaudio data obtainer 308 of FIG. 3 obtains audio gain levels as currentsound level indications. That is, the example audio data obtainer 308 ofFIG. 3 and the example audio data obtainer 402 of FIG. 4 obtain a sametype of audio characteristic and/or measurement such that the examplecomparator 306 of FIG. 3 receives data of the same type from thethreshold generator 304 and the audio data obtainer 308 for comparison.Moreover, while the illustrated example includes the example audio dataobtainer 402 and the example audio data obtainer 308, the example statedetector 200 of FIG. 2 may utilize a single audio data obtainer toobtain audio data. While the example audio data obtainer 308 of FIG. 3and the example audio data obtainer 402 of FIG. 4 obtain audio gainlevels, additional or alternative types of audio characteristic(s)(e.g., amplitude, volume, etc.) indicative of a sound level being outputby the media presentation device 102 may be utilized.

In the example of FIG. 4, the audio data obtainer 402 provides theobtained audio data to an on-indicative value collection 404. In theillustrated example of FIG. 4, the audio data provided to the exampleon-indicative collection 404 includes audio gain levels. In theillustrated example of FIG. 4, the on-indicative value collection 404 isa circular buffer having a particular number (B) of elements. As acircular buffer, after the on-indicative value collection 404 ispopulated with B elements, an oldest one of the elements is discardedeach time a new element is received and the new element is added to thecircular buffer. In the illustrated example of FIG. 4, B is chosen to beone-hundred (100). The value of B is chosen to be large enough tocapture a long historical sampling of the audio gain levels withoutbeing so large as to impose a signification computational burden. Assuch, the example on-indicative value collection 404 of FIG. 4 includesthe most recently obtained audio gain levels corresponding to the mediapresentation device 102 being ON (or at least likely being ON).

The example threshold generator 304 of FIG. 4 includes a selector 406 toidentify one of the elements of the example on-indicative valuecollection 404 corresponding to a quietest sound. In the illustratedexample of FIG. 4, in which the on-indicative value collection 404includes audio gain levels, the example selector 406 selects a greatestone of the audio gain levels of the on-indicative value collection 404because the greatest audio gain level corresponds to a quietest soundlevel. Accordingly, the example selector 406 of FIG. 4 selects audiodata corresponds to a quietest (e.g., of the most recently obtainedpieces of audio data) sound detected in the environment 100 known tocorrespond to the media presentation device 102 being ON or at leastlikely being ON. For example, assuming the example on-indicative valuecollection 404 of FIG. 4 includes audio gain levels of fifty (50),fifty-five (55), eight-two (82), eighty-four (84), eight-three (83),eighty (80), the example selector 406 of FIG. 4 selects eighty-four (84)as the audio data because eighty-four (84) corresponds to a quietestsound level of the recent detections associated with the mediapresentation device 102 being ON. In the illustrated example of FIG. 4,if no codes are detected, the example selector 406 selects a defaultvalue (e.g., 100 for an audio gain value corresponding to a quietestpossible sound) that does not interfere with, for example, other ON/OFFdetection processes and/or components (e.g., by determining that themedia presentation device 102 is OFF when the media presentation device102 is actually ON).

Notably, as the contents of the on-indicative value collection 404 arerepeatedly updated, the selection made by the example selector 406reflects current media consumption tendencies of those utilizing theexample media presentation device 102. That is, the example selector 406of FIG. 4 selects audio data indicative of a quietest sound level fromrecent information reflective of recent user behavior (e.g., volumetendencies and/or preferences).

In some examples, the value selected by the example selector 406 is usedas the value for the threshold condition. In such instances, the exampleselector 406 of FIG. 4 provides the selected value to the examplecomparator 306 of FIG. 3 when prompted for the current value of thethreshold condition. Alternatively, in some examples, an adjustor 408 ofthe example threshold generator 304 of FIG. 4 adjusts the selection madeby the example selector 406 to form the value for the thresholdcondition. The example adjustor 408 of FIG. 4 adjusts the selected audiodata to compensate for, for example, the codes not always beingdetectable in the environment 100. That is, because the exampleon-indicative value collection 404 of FIG. 4 is based on a sampling ofaudio data triggered by code detections, the audio data selected by theexample selector 406 may correspond to a sound level not quiet enoughfor a suitable threshold value. To compensate for potential selectionscorresponding to too great of sound levels, in some examples the exampleadjustor 408 of FIG. 4 weights the selected audio data. In someexamples, the adjuster 408 of FIG. 4 implements a 50/50 weighting of theselected audio gain level with a fixed weight value (e.g., one-hundredfifty (150)) to arrive at the final value for the threshold condition.Additional or alternative ratios and/or weight values are possible.Alternatively, to compensate for potentially low selections, the exampleadjustor 408 of FIG. 8 adds an offset (e.g., twenty-eight (28)) to theselected audio gain level to arrive at the final value for the thresholdcondition.

While an example manner of implementing the threshold generator 304 ofFIG. 3 is illustrated in FIG. 4, one or more of the elements, processesand/or devices illustrated in FIG. 4 may be combined, divided,re-arranged, omitted, eliminated and/or implemented in any other way.Further, the example audio code counter 400, the example audio dataobtainer 402, the example selector 406, the example adjustor 408 and/or,more generally, the example threshold generator 304 of FIG. 4 may beimplemented by hardware, software, firmware and/or any combination ofhardware, software and/or firmware. Thus, for example, any of theexample audio code counter 400, the example audio data obtainer 402, theexample selector 406, the example adjustor 408 and/or, more generally,the example threshold generator 304 of FIG. 4 could be implemented byone or more analog or digital circuit(s), logic circuits, programmableprocessor(s), application specific integrated circuit(s) (ASIC(s)),programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)) and/or field programmable logicdevice(s) (FPLD(s)). When reading any of the apparatus or system claimsof this patent to cover a purely software and/or firmwareimplementation, at least one of the example audio code counter 400, theexample audio data obtainer 402, the example selector 406, the exampleadjustor 408 and/or, more generally, the example threshold generator 304of FIG. 4 is/are hereby expressly defined to include a tangible computerreadable storage device or storage disk such as a memory, a digitalversatile disk (DVD), a compact disk (CD), a Blu-ray disk, etc. storingthe software and/or firmware. Further still, the example thresholdgenerator 304 of FIG. 3 may include one or more elements, processesand/or devices in addition to, or instead of, those illustrated in FIG.4, and/or may include more than one of any or all of the illustratedelements, processes and devices.

A flowchart representative of example machine readable instructions forimplementing the example meter 104 of FIGS. 1 and/or 2 is shown in FIG.5. A flowchart representative of example machine readable instructionsfor implementing the example state detector 200 of FIGS. 2 and/or 3 isshown in FIG. 6. A flowchart representative of example machine readableinstructions for implementing the example threshold generator 304 ofFIGS. 3 and/or 4 is shown in FIG. 7. In these examples, the machinereadable instructions comprise programs for execution by a processorsuch as the processor 812 shown in the example consumer electronicsdevice 800 discussed below in connection with FIG. 8. The programs maybe embodied in software stored on a tangible computer readable storagemedium such as a CD-ROM, a floppy disk, a hard drive, a digitalversatile disk (DVD), a Blu-ray disk, or a memory associated with theprocessor 812, but the entire programs and/or parts thereof couldalternatively be executed by a device other than the processor 812and/or embodied in firmware or dedicated hardware. Further, although theexample programs are described with reference to the flowchartsillustrated in FIGS. 5, 6 and/or 7, many other methods of implementingthe example meter 104, the example state detector 200, and/or theexample threshold generator 304 may alternatively be used. For example,the order of execution of the blocks may be changed, and/or some of theblocks described may be changed, eliminated, or combined.

As mentioned above, the example processes of FIGS. 5, 6 and/or 7 may beimplemented using coded instructions (e.g., computer and/or machinereadable instructions) stored on a tangible computer readable storagemedium such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory, a read-only memory(ROM), a compact disk (CD), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a cache, arandom-access memory (RAM) and/or any other storage device or storagedisk in which information is stored for any duration (e.g., for extendedtime periods, permanently, for brief instances, for temporarilybuffering, and/or for caching of the information). As used herein, theterm tangible computer readable storage medium is expressly defined toinclude any type of computer readable storage device and/or storage diskand to exclude propagating signals and to exclude transmission media. Asused herein, “tangible computer readable storage medium” and “tangiblemachine readable storage medium” are used interchangeably. Additionallyor alternatively, the example processes of FIGS. 5, 6 and/or 7 may beimplemented using coded instructions (e.g., computer and/or machinereadable instructions) stored on a non-transitory computer and/ormachine readable medium such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory, aread-only memory, a compact disk, a digital versatile disk, a cache, arandom-access memory and/or any other storage device or storage disk inwhich information is stored for any duration (e.g., for extended timeperiods, permanently, for brief instances, for temporarily buffering,and/or for caching of the information). As used herein, the termnon-transitory computer readable medium is expressly defined to includeany type of computer readable storage device and/or storage disk and toexclude propagating signals and to exclude transmission media. As usedherein, when the phrase “at least” is used as the transition term in apreamble of a claim, it is open-ended in the same manner as the term“comprising” is open ended.

The example of FIG. 5 begins with an initialization of the example meter104 (block 500). In the illustrated example of FIG. 5, the meter 104 isinitialized in response to, for example, the media presentation device102 being deployed in the environment 100 and/or activation of the meter104. The initialization of the meter 104 includes, for example,activating the audio sensor 202 to begin providing information to theexample state detector 200 and/or the example media detector 208.

The example state detector 200 receives information from the audiosensor 202 to determine a state of the media presentation device 102 ofFIG. 1 (block 502). An example implementation of block 502 is disclosedbelow in connection with FIG. 6. In the illustrated example of FIG. 5,the state detector 200 determines whether the media presentation device102 is ON or OFF and generates a state indication in accordance with thedetermination. The example state detector 200 provides the stateindication (e.g., ON or OFF) to the example time stamper 204, which timestamps the state indication (block 504).

In the example of FIG. 5, the media detector 208 monitors theenvironment 100 for media being presented via, for example, the mediapresentation device 102 (block 506). For example, the media detector 208of FIG. 2 detects media identifying information, such as a code, inaudio information collected via the audio sensor 202 and/or any othersuitable source of media identifying information. In the example of FIG.5, if media identifying information is detected in the environment 100(block 508), the media detector 208 identifies and/or extracts, forexample, a media identifier indicative of the particular media beingpresented by the media presentation device 102 (block 510). In theexample of FIG. 5, the information generated and/or extracted by themedia detector 208 is conveyed to the time stamper 204, which timestamps the media identifying information (block 510).

In the illustrated example of FIG. 5, reporter 212 conveys the timestamped state indication and the time stamped media identifyinginformation to the data collection facility 110 of FIG. 1 (block 512).If the meter 104 is powered down (block 514), the example of FIG. 5 ends(block 516). Otherwise, control returns to block 502.

FIG. 6 begins with an initialization of the example state detector 200of FIGS. 2 and/or 3 (block 600). In the illustrated example of FIG. 6,the initialization of the state detector 200 corresponds to theinitialization of the meter 104. As described above, the example statedetector 200 determines whether the media presentation device 102 ofFIG. 1 is ON or OFF based on audio data collected by the example audiosensor 202 of FIG. 2. In the illustrated example of FIG. 6, the codenotification receiver 302 receives code-detected notifications from, forexample, the media detector 308 of FIG. 3. If the code notificationreceiver 302 receives a code (or any other type of indication that themedia presentation device 102 is ON), thereby indicating that the mediapresentation device 102 is currently ON (block 602), the example codenotification receiver 302 provides the code-detected notification to theexample threshold generator 304 (block 604). As such, the example mediadetector 208 informs the example threshold generator 304 of times atwhich the media presentation device 102 is ON or at least likely ON.Further, as the detection of the code in environment 100 is a strongindication that the media presentation device 102 is ON, when the codenotification receiver 302 receives a code-detected notification (block602), the example state identifier 300 determines that the mediapresentation device 102 is ON and generates a state indication of themedia presentation device 102 being ON (block 606). The example stateidentifier 300 outputs the generated state indication (block 608). Ifthe state identifier 300 and/or the meter 104 is powered down) (block610), the example of FIG. 6 ends (block 612). Otherwise control returnsto block 602.

When no audio code is detected (block 602), the example state identifier300 utilizes a comparison of the threshold condition and the currentaudio data in the environment 100 to determine whether the mediapresentation device 102 is ON or OFF. In the example of FIG. 6, thethreshold generator 304 provides the current value of the thresholdcondition to the example comparator 306 (block 614). Further, theexample audio data obtainer 308 obtains the current audio data from theenvironment 100 and provides the audio data to the comparator 306 (block616). In the illustrated example of FIG. 6, the value of the thresholdcondition provided by the threshold generator 304 is an audio gain leveland the audio data provided by the example audio data obtainer 308 is anaudio gain level. As described above, the audio gain level of thethreshold condition is an audio gain level indicative of a quietestsound level of a recently collected collection of sound level indicationinformation known to corresponding to the media presentation device 102being ON.

Further, as described above, the higher the audio gain level is, thequieter the corresponding sound level. As such, in the example of FIG.6, the comparator 306 determines whether the current audio data from theenvironment 100 meets the threshold condition by determining whether thecurrent audio gain level is less than the threshold audio gain level(block 618). If the audio gain level provided by the example audio dataobtainer 308 is less than or equal to the audio gain level provided bythe threshold generator 304 (block 618), the example comparator 306outputs data (e.g., to the state identifier 300) indicative of the mediapresentation device 102 being ON. If the audio gain level provided bythe example audio data obtainer 308 is greater than the audio gain levelprovided by the threshold generator 304 (block 618), the examplecomparator 306 outputs data (e.g., to the state identifier 300)indicative of the media presentation device 102 being OFF. As such, whenthe audio gain level provided by the example audio data obtainer 308 isless than or equal to the audio gain level provided by the thresholdgenerator 304 (block 618), the example state identifier 300 determinesthat the media presentation device 102 is ON (block 606). When the audiogain level provided by the example audio data obtainer 308 is greaterthan the audio gain level provided by the threshold generator 304 (block618), the example state identifier 300 determines that the mediapresentation device 102 is OFF (block 620). The example resulting stateindicator is output to, for example, the data collection facility 110(block 608). Control then returns to block 602 or the example of FIG. 6ends (block 612).

FIG. 7 begins with an initialization of the example threshold generator304 of FIGS. 3 and/or 4 (block 700). The example of FIG. 6 begins atblock 600 with an initialization of the example state detector 200. Inthe illustrated example of FIG. 7, the initialization of the thresholdgenerator 304 corresponds to the initialization of the meter 104. Asdescribed above, the audio code counter 400 receives indications that acode is detected in the environment 100 and, thus, that the mediapresentation device 102 is ON or at least likely ON. For example, theaudio code counter 400 receives a code-detected indication from theexample code notification receiver 302 of FIG. 3. When the audio codecounter 400 determines that an audio code is detected in the environment100 (block 702), the code count maintained by the audio code counter 400is incremented (block 704). In the example of FIG. 7, the code count ismaintained such that every Nth code-detected notification results inaddition of corresponding audio data to the example ON-indicative valuecollection 404. If the audio code counter 400 determines that the codecount has reached the trigger amount (e.g., the Nth detection has beenreceived) (block 706), the example audio code counter 400 resets thecode count (block 708) and the audio data obtainer 402 obtains audiodata from the environment 100 (block 710).

In the example of FIG. 7, the audio data obtained by the audio dataobtainer 402 is an audio gain level currently (e.g., at a time of thecode detection) being used by the AGC component 210 of FIG. 2. However,additional or alternative types of audio data can be utilized as anindication of a sound level in the environment 100. The ON-indicativevalue collection 404 is updated with the new audio data (block 710). Inthe example of FIG. 7, the ON-indicative value collection 404 isimplemented via circular buffer. As such, updating the ON-indicativevalue collection 404 includes discarded an oldest element of theON-indicative value collection 404 and adding the newly obtained audiodata to the ON-indicative value collection 404. Thus, the ON-indicativevalue collection 404 includes mostly recently obtained audio data knownto correspond to the media presentation device 102 being ON.

In the example of FIG. 7, when no audio code is detected at block 702 orthe code count has not reached the trigger value or the ON-indicativevalue collection 404 has been updated at block 710, the selector 406determines whether a selection for the value of the threshold conditionis scheduled (e.g., according to a schedule), requested, and/orotherwise triggered (block 712). For example, the code notificationreceiver 302 of FIG. 3 and/or the comparator 306 of FIG. 3 may request avalue of the threshold condition from the threshold generator 304.Additionally or alternatively, the threshold generator 304 may beconfigured to periodically calculate a value for the thresholdcondition. If the selection of the value of the threshold condition istriggered (block 712), the selector 406 selects an element of theON-indicative value collection 404 corresponding to a quietest soundlevel. In the example of FIG. 7, in which the elements of theON-indicative value collection 404 are audio gain levels, the selector406 selects a greatest one of the audio gain levels in the ON-indicativevalue collection 404 as the value for the threshold condition (block714).

In the example of FIG. 7, the adjustor 408 adjusts the selected value ifthe threshold generator 304 is set or configured to, for example, weightor offset the selected value to accommodate to false positives and/orother inaccurate detections. In some examples, the adjustor 408 appliesa 50/50 weighting to the selected audio gain level and a predeterminednumber such as, for example, one-hundred fifty (150). Alternatively, theadjustor 408 may apply an offset (e.g., twenty-eight) to the selectedaudio gain level. If such the adjustor 408 is set to apply such anadjustment, the selected value for the threshold condition is adjustedaccordingly before being provided to, for example, the comparator 306(block 716). In some examples, the adjuster 408 does not adjust thevalue selected by the selector 406.

If the example threshold generator 304 is, for example, powered down(block 718), the example of FIG. 7 ends (block 720). Otherwise, controlreturns to block 702.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an example consumer electronics device 800that has been repurposed to execute the instructions of FIG. 5 toimplement the example meter 104 of FIGS. 1 and/or 2, repurposed toexecute the instructions of FIG. 6 to implement the example statedetector 200 of FIGS. 2 and/or 3, and/or repurposed to execute theinstructions of FIG. 6 to implement the example threshold generator 304of FIGS. 3 and/or 4. The consumer electronics device 800 can be, forexample, a server, a personal computer, a mobile device (e.g., a cellphone, a smart phone, a tablet such as an iPad®), a personal digitalassistant (PDA), an Internet appliance, a DVD player, a CD player, adigital video recorder, a Blu-ray player, a gaming console, a personalvideo recorder, a set top box, or any other type of computing device.

The consumer electronics device 800 of the illustrated example includesa processor 812. The processor 812 of the illustrated example ishardware. For example, the processor 812 can be implemented by one ormore integrated circuits, logic circuits, microprocessors or controllersfrom any desired family or manufacturer. In the illustrated example ofFIG. 8, the state detector 200, the time stamper 204, the media detector208, the AGC component 210, the example reporter 212, the stateidentifier 300, the code notification receiver 302, the thresholdgenerator 304, the comparator 306, the audio data obtainer 308, theaudio code counter 400, the audio data obtainer 402, the selector 406and/or the adjuster 408 is/are implemented via the example processor812.

The processor 812 of the illustrated example includes a local memory 813(e.g., a cache). The processor 812 of the illustrated example is incommunication with a main memory including a volatile memory 814 and anon-volatile memory 816 via a bus 818. The volatile memory 814 may beimplemented by Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), DynamicRandom Access Memory (DRAM), RAMBUS Dynamic Random Access Memory (RDRAM)and/or any other type of random access memory device. The non-volatilememory 816 may be implemented by flash memory and/or any other desiredtype of memory device. Access to the main memory 814, 816 is controlledby a memory controller.

The consumer electronics device 800 of the illustrated example alsoincludes an interface circuit 820. The interface circuit 820 may beimplemented by any type of interface standard, such as an Ethernetinterface, a universal serial bus (USB), and/or a PCI express interface.

In the illustrated example, one or more input devices 822 are connectedto the interface circuit 820. The input device(s) 822 permit(s) a userto enter data and commands into the processor 812. The input device(s)can be implemented by, for example, an audio sensor, a microphone, acamera (still or video), a keyboard, a button, a mouse, a touch screen,a track-pad, a trackball, isopoint and/or a voice recognition system.

One or more output devices 824 are also connected to the interfacecircuit 820 of the illustrated example. The output devices 824 can beimplemented, for example, by display devices (e.g., a light emittingdiode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a liquid crystaldisplay, a cathode ray tube display (CRT), a touch screen, a tactileoutput device, a printer and/or speakers). The interface circuit 820 ofthe illustrated example, thus, typically includes a graphics drivercard, a graphics driver chip or a graphics driver processor.

The interface circuit 820 of the illustrated example also includes acommunication device such as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver, amodem and/or network interface card to facilitate exchange of data withexternal machines (e.g., computing devices of any kind) via a network826 (e.g., an Ethernet connection, a digital subscriber line (DSL), atelephone line, coaxial cable, a cellular telephone system, etc.).

The consumer electronics device 800 of the illustrated example alsoincludes one or more mass storage devices 828 for storing softwareand/or data. In some examples, the example ON-indicative valuecollection 404 of FIG. 4 is implemented via the example one more massstorage devices 828 of FIG. 8. Examples of such mass storage devices 828include floppy disk drives, hard drive disks, compact disk drives,Blu-ray disk drives, RAID systems, and digital versatile disk (DVD)drives.

Coded instructions 832 of FIGS. 5 and/or 6 may be stored in the massstorage device 828, in the volatile memory 814, in the non-volatilememory 816, and/or on a removable tangible computer readable storagemedium such as a CD or DVD.

Although certain example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacturehave been disclosed herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is notlimited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods,apparatus and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope ofthe claims of this patent.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus, comprising: a threshold generatorto maintain, in memory, a collection of audio data elementsrepresentative of sound levels present in an environment at respectivetimes when ON-indications are detected for a monitored media device, thethreshold generator to replace, in response to detection of a nextON-indication in the environment, one of the audio data elements in thememory with a new audio data element representing a sound level in theenvironment at a time of the next ON-indication; and a selector toselect, for a value of a threshold condition of a state detectionanalysis, one of the audio data elements in the memory corresponding toa lowest sound level, at least one of the threshold generator or theselector implemented by at least one of a processor or hardware.
 2. Theapparatus as defined in claim 1, further including a counter to:increment a count when an ON-indication is detected in the environment;and trigger replacement of the oldest one of the audio data elementsmaintained in the memory in response to the count reaching a firstnumber, wherein the memory is organized as a circular buffer.
 3. Theapparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the audio data elementsrepresent respective audio gain levels, and the selector is to selectthe one of the audio data elements corresponding to the lowest soundlevel by selecting a highest one of audio gain levels.
 4. The apparatusas defined in claim 1, further including an adjustor to weight the valueselected for the threshold condition according to a fixed weightingratio.
 5. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, further including anaudio data obtainer to populate the collection of the audio dataelements with audio information when the ON-indications are detected. 6.The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the detection of theON-indication includes detection of media identifying information in theenvironment.
 7. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the audiodata elements include audio gain levels associated with automatic gaincontrol functionality.
 8. A method, comprising: maintaining, byexecuting instructions with a processor, a collection of audio dataelements in memory, the audio data elements representative of soundlevels present in an environment at respective times when ON-indicationsare detected for a monitored media device; in response to detection of anext ON-indication in the environment, replacing, by executing aninstruction with the processor, one of the audio data elements in thememory with a new audio data element representing a sound level in theenvironment at a time of the next ON-indication; and selecting, byexecuting an instruction with the processor, one of the audio dataelements corresponding to a lowest sound level to be a value of athreshold condition of a state detection analysis.
 9. The method asdefined in claim 8, wherein the replacing of the one of audio dataelements includes discarding an oldest one of the audio data elementsand adding the new audio data element corresponding to the time of thedetection of the ON-indication.
 10. The method as defined in claim 8,further including, in response to the ON-indication being detected:incrementing a count; determining whether the count has reached atrigger value; and when the count has reached the trigger value,triggering the identifying of the one of the audio elementscorresponding to the lowest sound level.
 11. The method as defined inclaim 8, further including adjusting the selected one of the audioelements according to a weighting ratio or an offset.
 12. The method asdefined in claim 8, wherein the audio data elements include audio gainlevels, and the selecting of the one of the audio data elementscorresponding to the lowest sound level includes identifying a highestone of the audio gain levels.
 13. The method as defined in claim 12,wherein the audio gain levels are obtained from an automatic gaincontrol component utilized by a media detector.
 14. The method asdefined in claim 8, further including providing the selected one of theaudio data elements to a comparator used to detect the ON-indication.15. A tangible computer readable storage medium comprising instructionsthat, when executed, cause a machine to at least: maintain, in memory, acollection of audio data elements representative of sound levels presentin an environment at respective times when ON-indications are detectedfor a monitored media device; replace, in response to detection of anext ON-indication in the environment, one of the audio data elements inthe memory with a new audio data element representing a sound level inthe environment at a time of the next ON-indication; and select, for avalue of a threshold condition of a state detection analysis, one of theaudio data elements corresponding to a lowest sound level.
 16. Thestorage medium as defined in claim 15, wherein the instructions, whenexecuted, cause the machine to update the collection of audio dataelements by discarding an oldest one of the audio data elements andadding the new audio data element corresponding to the time of thedetection of the ON-indication.
 17. The storage medium as defined inclaim 15, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to,in response to the ON-indication being detected: incrementing a count;determining whether the count has reached a trigger value; and when thecount has reached the trigger value, triggering the identifying of theone of the audio elements corresponding to the lowest sound level. 18.The storage medium as defined in claim 15, wherein the instructions,when executed, cause the machine to adjust the selected one of the audioelements according to a weighting ratio or an offset.
 19. The storagemedium as defined in claim 15, wherein the audio data elements includeaudio gain levels, and the instructions, when executed, cause themachine to identify the one of the audio data elements corresponding tothe lowest sound level by identifying a highest one of the audio gainlevels.
 20. The storage medium as defined in claim 15, wherein theinstructions, when executed cause the machine to provide the selectedone of the audio data element to a comparator used to detect theON-indication.